Adventures in the Atomic Age
From Watts to Washington
By Glenn T. Seaborg with Eric Seaborg
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
312 pgs. US$25/C$39.95
A remarkable life of science
By Steven Martinovich
web posted October 8, 2001
Had Glenn T. Seaborg - who passed away in 1999 - simply
been known as the discoverer of element 94, better known as
plutonium, in 1940 his place in history would have been assured.
Kept secret because of the Second World War, that discovery
was announced in the most spectacular fashion to the world on
August 6, 1945 with Little Boy's dropping on Hiroshima. As his
posthumously published biography easily makes the case for, his
contributions to the world included much more, evidenced
perhaps by the fact he is listed in the Guinness Book of World
Records for having the longest entry in "Who's Who in America."
Born in 1912 in Michigan of hard-working Swedish immigrants,
Seaborg and his family moved to California early in his life. That
move turned out to be the catalyst for Seaborg's future path in
life. A high school teacher there sparked his interest in chemistry
that later led him to atomic physics at Berkeley in 1934. It was a
momentous time in a new field with discoveries made on what
seemed to be a weekly basis and it allowed Seaborg to perform
pioneering research in the field while working and studying under
men like Robert Oppenheimer.
Although a passionate devotee of scientific research for its own
sake, the advent of the Second World War saw Seaborg
dedicated his talents to the war effort. Realizing the tremendous
power that fission promised and fearful that Germany might
already possess the technology, scientists like Seaborg worked
non-stop to make the atom bomb a reality. That quest forms the
core of Adventures in the Atomic Age and happily Seaborg
mostly manages to make the science behind the work accessible
to the lay reader.
Following the war, Seaborg won the Noble Prize in 1951 along
with Edwin McMillan and continued his work in science.
Appointed by John F. Kennedy to the Atomic Energy
Commission, where he served a total of ten years, Seaborg
followed the example of many of his colleagues and worked
towards international arms control agreements -- even helping
negotiate a limited test ban treaty - and the promotion of the
peaceful uses of nuclear technology.
His career though, will be judged on the basis of his scientific
contributions and on that count he deserves to be considered
among the greatest of the twentieth century. By discovering or
co-discovering ten new elements - including element 106, which
was named seaborgium in his honor -- and countless isotopes,
Seaborg no less than redrew the Periodic Table that has
tormented generations of high school students. And although his
work in nuclear science produced the atom bomb, it also
produced power generation and isotopes used in cancer
treatments and fire alarms.
If Seaborg's effort does fall short occasionally it's his failure to
more deeply delve into the philosophical ramifications of his
work. While the atom bomb's use can be rationalized on
intellectual levels, Adventures in the Atomic Age disappoints by
Seaborg not more deeply analyzing his role in its creation.
Although he justifies the bomb's development on the grounds that
the Germans had their own nuclear program - showed after the
war to be a half-hearted one at best - and presented a danger to
Allies had they managed to come up with their own device,
Seaborg gives little insight into the moral battle that must have
occurred within him outside of arguing that the second bomb
dropped on Nagasaki wasn't necessary. Seaborg essentially
justifies the creation of the greatest weapon of mass destruction
with a cost-benefit analysis, a rather simple argument in a
tremendously complex debate.
Like all biographies or autobiographies with scientists as their
subjects, Seaborg's works best when the story moves to his
personal life, such as the charming story of his marriage. Once he
begins to detail the intricacies of his scientific discoveries, those
without a background in science may find themselves
occasionally skipping ahead a few sentences. Despite that, one
thing comes through clear from his everyman account: Glenn
Seaborg loved science for its own sake. His account of his life
and work is an illuminating window into a science that has
changed our world for the better and a testament to one man's
extraordinary accomplishments.
Steven Martinovich is a freelance writer in Sudbury, Ontario.
Enter Stage Right - http://www.enterstageright.com